13. while standing there between the living and the dead. And so the scourge was checked.
14. There were fourteen thousand seven hundred dead from the scourge, in addition to those who died because of Korah.
15. When the scourge had been checked, Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting.
16. The Lord now said to Moses:
17. Speak to the Israelites and get from them a staff for each ancestral house, twelve staffs in all, from all the leaders of their ancestral houses. Write each man’s name on his staff;
18. and write Aaron’s name on Levi’s staff. For each head of an ancestral house shall have a staff.
19. Then deposit them in the tent of meeting, in front of the covenant, where I meet you.
20. The staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout. Thus I will rid myself of the Israelites’ grumbling against you.
21. So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and all their leaders gave him staffs, twelve in all, one from each leader of their ancestral houses; and Aaron’s staff was among them.
22. Then Moses deposited the staffs before the Lord in the tent of the covenant.
23. The next day, when Moses entered the tent of the covenant, Aaron’s staff, representing the house of Levi, had sprouted. It had put forth sprouts, produced blossoms, and borne ripe almonds!
24. So Moses brought out all the staffs from the Lord’s presence to all the Israelites, and each one identified his own staff and took it.
25. Then the Lord said to Moses: Put back Aaron’s staff in front of the covenant, for safe keeping as a sign to the rebellious, so that their grumbling against me may cease and they might not die.